Editing Ashe County, North Carolina (section)

==Government and politics==
Like much of [[Appalachia]], Ashe County is a strongly [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] county. The last [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] presidential nominee to carry Ashe County was [[Jimmy Carter]] in [[1976 United States presidential election|1976]], and the last to reach forty percent of the county's vote was [[Bill Clinton]] in [[1992 United States presidential election|1992]]. Recent elections have seen Ashe trend rapidly towards the Republican Party. [[Hillary Clinton]] and [[Joe Biden]] won just 26 percent of the county vote in [[2016 United States presidential election|2016]] and [[2020 United States presidential election|2020]], respectively. However, [[Kamala Harris]] performed marginally better in [[2024 United States presidential election|2024]], winning 27 percent of the vote in Ashe.   

In 2024, Ashe County was one of 10 counties in western North Carolina that voted more Democratic than in 2020, shifting by nearly 2 points.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bloch |first=Matthew |last2=Collins |first2=Keith |last3=Gebeloff |first3=Robert |last4=Hernandez |first4=Marco |last5=Khurana |first5=Malika |last6=Levitt |first6=Zach |date=November 6, 2024 |title=Early Results Show a Red Shift Across the U.S. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/11/06/us/politics/presidential-election-2024-red-shift.html |access-date=November 20, 2024 |website=The New York Times}}</ref>  

{{PresHead|place=Ashe County, North Carolina|whig=no|source1=<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|last=Leip|first=David|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=March 14, 2018}}</ref>}}

<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP/Whig vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|11,629|4,431|193|North Carolina}}{{PresRow|2020|Republican|11,451|4,164|199|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|9,412|3,500|512|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|8,242|4,116|252|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|7,916|4,872|281|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|7,292|4,477|54|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|6,226|4,011|79|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1996|Republican|5,203|3,825|914|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1992|Republican|5,200|4,624|1,246|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|6,019|4,034|30|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|6,611|4,009|25|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|5,643|4,461|208|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|4,937|5,193|25|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|5,784|3,313|91|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|4,894|3,426|888|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|4,191|4,965|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|4,823|4,477|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|4,588|3,982|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|4,563|4,536|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|4,266|4,633|228|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|4,524|4,363|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|4,175|4,716|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|4,557|5,552|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|3,871|4,751|38|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|4,337|3,458|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|3,952|4,333|3|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|3,808|3,431|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1916|Republican|1,939|1,898|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresFoot|1912|Democratic|478|1,643|1,242|North Carolina}}

Ashe County is governed by a five-member Board of County Commissioners.<ref>[http://www.ashecountygov.com/commissioners Ashe County Government]</ref> In the [[North Carolina Senate]], Ashe County lies in the [[North Carolina's 47th Senate district|47th district]] and is represented by Republican [[Ralph Hise]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=DRA 2020 |url=https://davesredistricting.org/maps |access-date=May 2, 2022 |website=Daves Redistricting}}</ref> In the [[North Carolina House of Representatives]], Ashe County lies in the [[North Carolina's 93rd House district|93rd district]] and is represented by Republican [[Ray Pickett]].

In the [[United States House of Representatives]], Ashe County lies in [[North Carolina's 5th congressional district]] and is represented by Republican [[Virginia Foxx]].

Ashe County is a member of the regional [[Councils of governments in North Carolina|High Country Council of Governments]].

=== 2024-2025 Ashe County Sheriff's Office controversy ===
{{Main articles|Death of Stuart Mast}}